


Advanced Romantic Expressionism

by dearzoemurphy



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Britta Perry, F/F, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Finale, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, confession of feelings, lesbian Annie Edison, maybe the gayest thing I've ever written, minor mention of prescription drug abuse, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23885389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearzoemurphy/pseuds/dearzoemurphy
Summary: A familiar face visits Britta at The Vatican on a slow business night with something important to tell her.Set post-finale when Annie returns to Greendale after her internship.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Britta Perry
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73





	Advanced Romantic Expressionism

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to write something happy about happy wlw, so this is the product of that need. I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> **minor mention of prescription drug abuse**

It was a quiet Thursday night, and business at The Vatican was slow even for a weeknight. Britta was doing her best to stay busy, constantly checking in on the few patrons they had, washing stray glasses, and wiping down the counter every few minutes. Shifts like these drained her not because of how demanding they were, but how boring and monotonous they were. None of the customers that night were particularly interesting to talk to, so there wasn’t anything she could use as a distraction. 

Britta was in the middle of her fourth go at the counter when the bell at the door chimed, alerting her of a new visitor. She looked up and was greeted with a pleasant surprise.

“Annie! You’re back!” 

The brunette smiled broadly, rushing over to the bar. She was wearing a pink floral sundress that flowed behind her as she ran.

“Britta!” she exclaimed. The woman ran around the bar to meet Annie and wrapped her up in a tight embrace.

“It’s so good to see you!” 

“Good to see you too,” Annie said, squeezing Britta before letting go.

“How’ve you been? Wait, let me get you a drink first. What would you like? It’s on the house,” the blonde said quickly and excitedly.

Annie giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm. “A vodka cranberry, please,” she requested.

“One vodka cranberry, coming right up,” Britta said with a grin. She turned around and rushed around the bar to make the drink, giving an extra generous pour and garnishing it with a few cranberries. She also poured herself a glass of whiskey before turning back around and sliding Annie’s drink across the counter.

“So! How’s it going? How was the internship?” 

“It’s going great! The internship was amazing, but I can’t say much about it,” Annie replied, taking a sip.

“Ooo, is it classified?” Britta asked, intrigued. She leaned forward on the bar towards her friend.

“Yes. We’re not allowed to share most details, but I learned a lot! And I have some career opportunities lined up,” she said excitedly.

“That’s great! More than you learned at Greendale, I’m sure,” Britta said with a smirk.

“Hey, Greendale let me get that internship,” Annie scolded, “but yes. There’s something about hands-on experience that can’t be replicated.”

“I’m glad you got that experience.”

“Me too. So…how have things been around here?” the brunette asked. 

“Calm. You honestly didn’t miss much,” Britta replied with a laugh, “We all hung out a lot this summer, though. Jeff got roped into teaching a summer class, Frankie picked up some consulting work, but the others haven’t had much going on.”

Annie sipped her vodka. “How have you been?”

The blonde smiled tenderly at her friend. “I’ve been alright. Been picking up a lot of shifts here. I’m…I’m trying to figure out what’s next.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Britta paused for a moment before answering. “I’m saving up to get out of here,” she said quietly.

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“No, no, I’m happy for you! I’m just surprised,” Annie said quickly.

Britta looked her over, confused. The brunette looked nervous, as if she were withholding information. She tucked her hair behind her ears and smoothed her skirt in one fluid motion.

“Surprised? Why?”

“I don’t know, for some reason, I thought you were settling down here. Like Jeff,” Annie said meekly.

“It’s what I thought I wanted to do. But after a summer of spending time with what’s left of the group, working, and looking around the empty apartment…I realized that I can’t spend the rest of my life here. I need to get back out in the world. Even if I only end up settling somewhere else, at least it will be somewhere else, you know?” Britta explained.

“I get it. At the end of last spring, I thought about what I would do if I didn’t get the internship. I decided that no matter what, I would move out of Greendale. Look for opportunities somewhere else,” Annie said. She finished her drink and set the empty glass down on the side of the bar closest to Britta.

“You want a refill?”

“Not right now. Maybe in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Annie reached across and set a hand on Britta’s forearm. “I’m glad that you were able to make that decision. After getting out, I realized how much this school…drained me. Drained all of us. We spent six years of our lives fighting battles that shouldn’t have been ours to fight.”

Britta met her gaze and noticed the sad look in her eyes. “Yeah. It’s exhausting,” she said.

“Mhm. Don’t get me wrong, Greendale did a lot of good for all of us. It brought us all together. But I couldn’t spend the rest of my life tied to it,” Annie concluded, drawing away and settling back onto her bar stool.

“Try explaining that to Jeff,” Britta scoffed.

“I will. I mean it,” Annie promised, recognizing the frustration behind the comment.

Britta gave a wry smile. “You know, Jeff and I are hosting a back-to-school barbeque tomorrow. You should come! I won’t tell the others that you’re here so you can be a surprise guest,” she said.

“I would love to! But, um, I’m only in town for one night,” Annie said.

The blonde tilted her head in confusion. “Really? Did you stop by to see anyone else?” she asked.

Annie laughed nervously. “No. Can you keep a secret?"

“Of course,” Britta said eagerly. 

Her friend leaned across the bar so that her lips were right next to her ear. “I’m on my way to my first undercover assignment. I’m going to be pretending to be a high schooler so that I can expose teachers that are running a prescription drug ring,” she whispered hoarsely.

Britta’s jaw dropped in shock. “Oh my god, that’s incredible! I mean, not incredible that it’s happening, but incredible that you already have a real job.”

Annie drew back and grinned. “I know! I was offered the position during my internship and immediately took it. It seems like a good way to help protect kids who could be like me. The…organization wants to help students that got caught up in the whole thing,” she said.

“Really, that’s amazing,” Britta said, then paused to think for a moment, “Wait, but why did you only come to see me?” 

“Well, I kind of took a gamble on whether you’d be here or not,” Annie said with a laugh, “but I have something that I want to talk to you about.” She started fidgeting with her skirt and looked down to her lap.

“What is it?”

Annie took a deep breath and stopped fidgeting. “Well...I met someone in D.C.,” she started.

Britta wasn’t sure where her friend was going with that. “Okay…”

“And she was a…a lesbian. She mentioned having a girlfriend in passing and we kind of became friends because I asked her a bunch of questions about dating other girls,” she continued, laughing at herself.

“This isn’t a Paige situation, is it?” Britta asked warily.

“No! No, it’s not,” Annie chuckled, “She could tell that I was really fascinated with the concept of being a lesbian. And eventually, she asked me if I might be one too. I’d never really considered it because I’m Annie! I like boys! I liked Troy and Jeff and Vaughn and Rich…” she continued.

Britta walked around the corner of the bar and took a seat next to Annie. She gave an encouraging smile as her friend turned to face her. 

“But um…she helped me work through it all during our free time. She said I had probably been experiencing this thing called compulsory heterosexuality? Which means that I kept trying to convince myself that I liked guys through a lot of different methods,” Annie explained.

“I know what comp het is. It sucks,” Britta said.

Her friend laughed. “Yeah. Wait, are you…?”

“Unlabeled. But I also figured out that I like girls this summer,” she replied with a smile.

“Oh. That’s cool.” Annie’s voice went up about seven octaves.

“So…are you?”

The brunette nodded. “Yes. I think so. Brianna was really helpful. She helped me figure it out in a way that wasn’t sudden and overwhelming,” she confirmed. 

Britta leaned over and hugged Annie tenderly, arms wrapped around her shoulders. “I’m glad. It can be a really difficult realization, but I hope you’ll be happier figuring it out.”

Annie smiled and returned the embrace. “I am,” she said before pulling back and brushing a piece of hair out of her face, “but there’s another thing I figured out. Kind of the reason I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“You know how I kept going after all of the boys you dated?” Annie asked, biting her lip nervously.

Britta chuckled. “Yes, yes I do.”

“Well…I felt jealous whenever I saw you with one of them. So I assumed that I liked _them_ . Vaughn and Jeff and whoever else. But Brianna helped me realize that I liked… _you_.”

Her words hung in the air, Britta unsure of how to even begin processing them.

“You liked…me?” she squeaked.

Annie giggled. “Yes. You were cool! You were passionate about standing up for what you believed in! You wore flannels and leather jackets and had amazing hair! You were gorgeous. You were literally the stereotypical first girl crush,” she elaborated.

Britta felt her cheeks flush. “Wow. That’s…a lot to take in,” was all she could manage to say.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I wanted to tell you before this assignment starts because it might last a while. And then I’ll probably be coming back here for a bit until something more permanent comes up. And…I just wanted to see you. I got closure with Jeff before I left, but I hadn’t considered the fact that the two of us had any unfinished business,” Annie said.

“Do…do you still have some of the same feelings?” Britta sputtered.

Annie looked down. “Yes. Since I never acknowledged them, they’ve just sort of…sat there.”

“Do you want to know something?”

“What?”

“I figured out that I liked girls because of feelings I had for you,” Britta said.

It was Annie’s turn for her jaw to drop. “What?!”

Britta giggled. “Yeah. Frankie helped me figure it out,” she said. 

“Wait, when did you like me?!” Annie asked urgently, trying and failing to hide her excitement.

The blonde laughed even harder. “Last year, around the time when I moved in with you and Abed.”

“And?!”

“And that’s kind of it. I liked you after spending more time with you! But I didn’t realize it was romantic until I was talking to Frankie after you left. I was really upset about you leaving and was trying to blame it on things other than you leaving. She asked me if I was as upset about Abed leaving and I said no, I loved him, but I missed you most. She had me consider why and…long story short, it’s because my feelings for you weren’t entirely platonic,” Britta elaborated.

“Am I the first girl you realized that you liked?” Annie asked softly, looking up with her doe eyes.

“I think I’ve liked others, but yes. You’re the first one I acknowledged,” she replied.

“So, um…do you still like me?”

Britta smirked and took Annie’s hand. “I mean, when you’re back around after your assignment…I wouldn’t be opposed to trying something out,” she said quietly.

Annie subconsciously began to drift closer to the blonde. “I thought you were leaving.”

“It’ll be awhile before I have enough to move out. And maybe…maybe our next adventure can be taken together,” Britta said, thumb circling the outside of Annie’s hand.

“Season eight,” the brunette said with a smile.

“Yeah. Season eight.” Her friend smiled back.

They looked at each other for a moment, considering the series of events that had just occurred. 

“When do you head out?” Britta asked quietly.

“I’m supposed to get to the town where my assignment is tonight. This was just a quick stop,” Annie said, shivering slightly. She noticed that Britta was definitely looking at everything but her eyes.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. But I’ll be back, I promise,” she said solemnly.

“Good,” Britta said simply. It didn’t feel as if there was much left to say, since Annie couldn’t talk about what all she had done and Britta had already told her about all that had happened. So Britta did what felt natural and gently cupped Annie’s chin, pulling her in for a kiss. 

Britta thought that she had never known softer lips. Annie thought that this was a million times better than anything like it had been before. This didn’t feel like Jeff holding her close and fighting with her mouth, this didn’t feel like Vaughn cautiously pecking at her lips, and this didn’t feel like her and Abed crashing together amid a paint explosion. It felt different, it felt more right than all of those had been.

Too soon, Britta drew away and let her hand drift down from Annie’s chin. It rested on her knee in a comforting fashion.

“I’ll be right here, whenever you’re able to come back and find me.”

“Okay. Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t tell the others I stopped by. I don’t want to hurt their feelings or make you have to explain where I’m going,” Annie said nervously.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Britta replied.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling out her phone to check the time, “I should get going.”

Britta only nodded. She was clearly sad for Annie to be going so soon after their revelations, pulling her face to rest in a forced smile.

The brunette stood up and took a step towards Britta to hug her and plant a soft kiss on her cheek. “Expect to hear from Caroline Decker sometime soon,” she said. With that, she turned around and swiftly exited the bar, leaving a dazed Britta sitting on a bar stool in the middle of her workplace.

\---

Two weeks later, Britta was working another slow evening. Few patrons, few dishes, few tasks that needed to be completed. She stood behind the bar at the spot where her and Annie’s conversation had happened, as she had every slow night since. She looked over the details of the counter, the curve of the stools’ back, the dim light that illuminated the area.

“Hey, Perry. A letter addressed to you came in today,” her manager grunted, appearing out of nowhere and passing her the piece of mail.

“Hm?” She picked it up and looked at it, confused until she settled on the name in beautiful script on the return address. 

Caroline Decker.

She tore it open in a flash, hungry for what she hoped was inside.

“My dearest Britta, I’ve been thinking of you. It might be awhile longer before I quit my job,” the letter started, vaguely disguising the message she wanted to send, “but I want you to start thinking about where you want to go. The extra work means extra pay, so once I quit, I will be able to afford our relocation. Write to me at this address if you have any ideas. I eagerly await your reply, and I cannot wait for the day when I may hold you again. Yours, Caroline Decker.”

There was a lipstick stain followed by a scribbled postscript.

“P.S. I’ve always wanted to write a formal love letter! I hope I didn’t over-do it on the flowery language. I really can’t wait to see you again. Hope you and the others are doing well!” which was followed by a swirly heart.

Britta grinned and looked out of the bar windows to the outside, already dreaming of the places her and Annie could escape to. Season eight couldn’t come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you all for reading! as always, leave a comment with any thoughts/opinions/etc. down below! this is less angsty than my usual fare and it was a nice little treat to write


End file.
